Finally, back in the studio, photo shoot edited and website updated, phew, so get to make a bear :) He/she will be my first white bear, made of a beautiful silky, ivory faux mink. Will be similar to Filberta below, cant wait to see!

Meta tags, Crawlers, Headers and footers, encrypted code, verifying accounts, adding links, my head hurts. Enjoying the process of website optimisation, like a big puzzle. Still need to photograph the rest of the prototype bears, but I'm waiting for my grey backdrop to be delivered. I think the paler bears will look nicer on a darker back ground. Hurry up Jesssops!

Then, maybe then I'll get to make a bear to try and sell! Theres's some pattern tweaking I'd like to do too, and design a more traditional bear that I can make in editions. Cant wait to get started, roll on Monday x

First blog post…..anywhere……ever! Finally committed to a name for my bears, it feels right, it's a keeper.

I've spent the last year researching types of bears and and experimenting with lots of different materials and where to source them. Trying out a few bought patterns, and then designing and my own bears and patterns from scratch, trying to decide what my bears will be. Over the last few months I've been tweaking and altering my patterns as I work on my prototypes. I have a collection of my first eight practice bears, all slightly differently made, experimenting with varied materials and neck joint systems.

​Oh, and the exciting bit…..I now have lights! Over the next few days I'll hopeful get some decently lit photos of the motley crew, all Berts, can't wait to get some images on my website and Facebook page :)

They took slightly longer to set up than I though, but really pleased with how bright they are! Didn't have time to get my camera and tripod set up too, so just snapped a few on my phone. Also waiting for my grey backdrop to arrive, as I think it will show the paler bears off nicely.

Didn't get chance for the big photoshoot today, being new years and all, so here's a photo of me with a couple of prototypes. It was taken during Ouseburn openstidios last month, and I don't hate it. Hello.